seeing me look incredulous, he added--

"Nothing particularly wrong. I'm only a little worried about money
matters. The fact is, I've got two or three notes to pay next week."

"You have?"

"Yes; and what is more, I haven't the means to lift them."

"That is trouble," said I, shaking my head.

"It's trouble for me. Oh, dear! I wish my income were larger. A
thousand dollars a year is too little."

"Two persons ought to live on that sum very comfortably," I
remarked.

"We can't, then; and I'm sure we are not extravagant. Ah, me!"

"I spent the evening with our friend Tyler last week," said I. "His
salary is the same as yours, and he told me that he found it not
only sufficient for all his wants, but that he could lay by a couple
of hundred dollars yearly."

"I couldn't live as he does," said Brainard, a little impatiently.

"Why not?"

"Do you think I would be cooped up in such a pigeon-box of a place?"